OLs also profiting from illicit photo sessions

Tokyo Metropolitan Police in November announced the bust of a studio for allowing photography of school girls in seductive poses.

According to Shukan Jitsuwa (Dec. 19), the trade in illicit private photography is varied, with office ladies among those in the biz.

Officers took Takashi Watanabe, the 33-year-old manager of Twin Tail, into custody for the employment of minors in violation of the Labor Standards Act. A 17-year-old girl was taken into protective custody.

At the parlor, located in the Ikebukuro district of Toshima Ward, the girls dress in a variety of uniforms and bathing suits. For a fee of 10,000 yen, customers are then able to photograph these employees in private rooms partitioned by curtains.

“Ikebukuro is the Mecca for school girls employed in the fuzoku business,” says a writer covering the trade, which includes adult-entertainment shops. “In the 1990s, a lot of school girls from Saitama Prefecture came to the area around Sunshine-dori to play and work. But after a number of busts they migrated to Akihabara.”

Since January, however, police have been cracking down on so-called joshi kosei (high-school girl) “reflexology” massage parlors in Akihabara due to concerns that they are a breeding ground for prostitution. As a result, the number of photography parlors — known as JK satsueikai — has been increasing in the Akihabara and Ikebukuro areas under the presumption that the establishments are legal since body contact is not made.

Twin Tail

Shukan Jitsuwa says that largely being left alone amongst the activities of law enforcement is the OL satsueikai trade. In such a business, an office lady, typically of high grade, looks-wise, will rendezvous with a male customer at a love hotel for a photo session at a rate of 15,000 yen for one hour. She’ll have a number of costume options for him to choose.

“Unless a woman has confidence in her body, she wouldn’t even think about earning pocket money in this way,” says fuzoku writer Yukio Murakami. “It’s a totally different experience compared to JK satsueikai.”

The writer says that should a customer become overly stimulated, the woman will begin negotiating a price for sex. The going rate is between 20,000 and 30,000 yen.

“I hear cases of where the pair will then develop a mistress relationship from there,” Murakami assures.

Note: Brief extracts from Japanese vernacular media in the public domain that appear here were translated and summarized under the principle of “fair use.” Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of the translations. However, we are not responsible for the veracity of their contents. The activities of individuals described herein should not be construed as “typical” behavior of Japanese people nor reflect the intention to portray the country in a negative manner. Our sole aim is to provide examples of various types of reading matter enjoyed by Japanese.